Jean de Bueil, Le Jouvencel, c. 1466

What a joyous thing is war. When one sees that one's quarrel is just and one's blood is fighting well, a tear comes to the eye. There comes to the heart a sweet feeling of loyalty and pity to see one's friend, who valiantly exposes his body in order to do and accomplish the command of our Creator. And then one is disposed to go and live or die with him, and for love not at all abandon him. From that comes such a delectation, that he who has not tried it is a man who cannot say what a delight is. Do you think that a man who does that fears death? Not at all; for he is so comforted, he is so elated that he does not know where he is. Truly he fears nothing.

le Carré 1

He even invested in a bottle of a malt whiskey, which he forced on Smiley liberally while sticking to the cheaper brand himself.

What Is Missing From War

The Captains expressed their pleasure, but it was difficult to see much of it on Lawrence's shy, embarrassed face, and the name of Hornet struck all cheerfulness from Jack's. However, he assumed a decent appearance of cordiality and in spite of their protests called for coffee and sweet biscuits -- 'or cookies, as I should say', looking at Lawrence with a smile. He liked the look of him, a big, open-faced man in a white coat, a man with a modest, well-bred air, and obviously a sailor. Lawrence returned the smile -- there was clearly a mutual liking in spite of the awkwardness of the situation -- and said, 'A little while ago, sir, I had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Mowett of your service, and he particularly desired me to wait on you, to bring his respects, to ask how you did, and to tell you he was coming along very well in hospital at New York.'

Jake's Thing

I just finished Kingsley Amis's Jake's Thing. I had previously read Lucky Jim, which had TOTALLY blown me away. The was one of the most consistently funny books I'd ever read, and the main character, to a certain degree, reminded me of myself. I have this bad habit (or maybe its not, who knows) that I tend to see my life or the situations that happen to me mirrored in books or music. Regardless, though, Jake's Thing is one of his later period books (late 70s, I think, Lucky Jim being 1954 or something like that) and, while it is really funny, it is really, really misogynistic and seems kind of mean spirited in parts. I mean, most everyone in Lucky Jim was portrayed as utterly and completely foolish, but the characters that are torn apart in Jake's Thing (Amis tears a new asshole for psychoanalysis, generally, and, in particular, blaming all mental problems on sexual dysfunction and those programs like EST, where they supposedly "helped" you by making you feel like living shit--he also takes a very gloomy view on women) are portrayed with nearly no redeeming qualities. Most of the women in the book, especially, are either portrayed as outright crazy, totally superficial or unable to deal with Jake's loss of interest in sex. (Oh, yeah, I didn't even say what the book was about. Basically, Jake is getting near to 60, and his libido has significantly decreased. This is straining his relationship with his wife, so he goes to visit a therapist. Hilarity ensues.) Amis was notorious as a womanizer, but Lucky Jim didn't have this hatred for women and total lack in faith.
That being said, here is the closing passage from the book. Jake has been having bowel problems, and he goes back to visit his GP (general practitioner). This GP had sent him to the crazy therapist, originally, saying that his lose of libido could not be a physical thing, but must be mental blockage or something. He now informs Jake that it could, in fact, be something messed up with hormones. Jake would have to undergo some tests first, and he thinks about whether its even worth it:

Jake did a quick run-through of women in his mind, not of the ones he had known or dealt with in the past few months or years so much as all of them: their concern with the surface of things, with objects and appearances, with their surroundings and how they looked and sounded in them, with seeming to be better and to be right while getting everything wrong, their automatic assumption of the role of injured party in any clash of wills, their certainty that a view is the more credible and useful for the fact that they hold it, their use of misunderstanding and misrepresentation as weapons of debate, their selective sensitivity to tones of voice, their unawareness of the difference in themselves between sincerity and insincerity, their interest in importance (together with noticeable inability to discriminate in that sphere), their fondness for general conversation and direction-less discussion, their pre-emption of the major share of feeling, their exaggerated estimate of their own plausibility, their never listening and lots of other things like that, all according to him.
So it was quite easy. 'No thanks,' he said.

Say what you want about his misogynism, but that could quite possibly be one of the most scathing passages I've ever read directed at anything. I hope I never grow to hate women that much. I doubt I will; I'm not a drunken, womanizing Englishman.

Brideshead Revisited

I just read the funniest line (eva) and I probably made my roommate think I'm a lunatic, because its 2:15 in the morning and I'm in my boxer-briefs laughing like a freak:

We were joined by a Belgian Futurist, who lived under the, I think, assumed name of Jean de Brissac la Motte, and claimed the right to bear arms in any battle anywhere against the lower classes.

Anyone who has never read Evelyn Waugh should really get one of his books, because it will be fairly serious story and you will just come across these lines that are so scathingly hilarious and beautiful. I really don't often laugh out loud to things I read in books, but I think that has happen four or five times so far with this book. (Don't worry, I haven't stopped with "Jude The Obscure". I just wanted to read something a little more light-hearted).